"Tracking completely destroys the rhythm, and has a surprisingly disproportionate effect on legibility."

For all you kerning fans, there's been a brilliant discussion going on over on the lovely Ace Jet 170.

(Picture borrowed from Richard, the photo is of Dalton Maag's stuff, usual bumpf applies.)

Full of interesting useful stuff like, "you have to remember that the tighter you space (minus tracking) the darker the page becomes" and "Tracking completely destroys the rhythm, and has a surprisingly disproportionate effect on legibility."

Bruno Maag (who's a fantastic chap) and a few others explain why you should never track words, lines, paragraphs or God forbid pages.

Read it, you'll learn something.

Comments

[davidthedesigner]

Hey, c'mon Ben - pay attention. You've got the Bruno Maag http link screwed. That's the second one today.

And, by the way, do you think the Swiss have a sense of humour or not?

[Ben]

Bloody hell!

[richard]

I love this blog. Its like porn for type freaks that dare not admit to this pecadillo in polite society

[Richard]

Hey that's Neill's photo really. He'll be thrilled. Jodie, on the other hand is a little miffed that everyone is more interested in kerning than her (non existant) love life.

The Davids and the mighty Maagster were brilliant, although at times, for me, it felt like a house party getting out of hand.

Most importantly, I've learnt something, which is always good.

[jon]

thanks very much for the link. great discussion.